Everything you need to know about the Celtics’ 120-106 win over the Bucks in quickie form.
BOXSCORE
HEADLINES
Jaylen Brown makes Celtics history: The second-year guard attacked the Bucks with an aggressive mentality right out of the gate on Tuesday, posting a playoff career-high for the second straight game by finishing with 30 points on 12-of-22 shooting. At age 21, he became the youngest player in franchise history to score 30-plus points in a playoff game, besting Tommy Heinsohn (22 years old) for the honor. Brown’s superb production paced a tremendous offensive performance by the C’s with six players scoring in double figures while shooting 53 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point range as a team. That kind of efficient output enabled the C’s to overcome another 30-point performance from Giannis Antetokounmpo and pull away in the fourth quarter with the double-digit win.
Bucks shoot the lights out, but lose hustle battle: Incredibly, Milwaukee shot 59.7 percent from the field, but still managed to lose by 14 points. What was the difference, outside of a dismal defensive performance on its end? Second-chance points and turnovers. The Celtics took care of the ball incredibly well against a long Bucks defense (just seven turnovers) while the visitors allowed Boston to score 21 points off their 15 miscues. Those mistakes combined with a 20-9 edge for the hosts in second-chance points enabled the C’s to overcome hot nights from Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton (25 points).
TURNING POINT
The Celtics jumped out to a 10-2 run midway through the third quarter largely fueled by the scoring of Brown (eight straight points) to push the Boston advantage to 16 points. That sizable lead was too much for the Bucks to overcome, as they failed to cut the deficit below double-digits for the final 16 minutes of the contest.
TWO UP
Brown: The 21-year-old has now started the 2018 postseason with back-to-back 20-point games. He’s averaging 25 ppg in the series, and is shooting 51 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point range. He’s posting that level of production despite only taking two free throws in the first two games.
Terry Rozier: The third-year guard matched his postseason career high from Game 1 with 23 points. He's the second-leading scorer for the Celtics in this series, and is shooting better from 3-point range (50 percent) than from the field (46.9 percent). He also posted a postseason career-high with eight assists on Tuesday night, and has turned the ball over zero times this series.
TWO DOWN
Start of second quarters: The Bucks opened the period with a 13-0 run to erase the first quarter lead the Celtics built in what was a carbon copy of an ugly start to the quarter in Game 1. With Antetokounmpo in against the second unit during these stints, Brad Stevens may need to think about tinkering with his rotation at this point of the game.
The Bucks backcourt: The Celtics’ starting guards have outscored the Bucks starting backcourt of Eric Bledsoe and Tony Snell by a deficit of 96-25 over the first two games of this series.
TOP PLAY
Shane at the buzzer!!! ? pic.twitter.com/dzB5qKP8V1
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 18, 2018
